BelMateo bags Babe Ruth title

“I’m expecting us to do well (in Long Beach),” said BelMateo manager Steve Vega.

If BelMateo plays like it did Thursday at the Belmont Sports Complex, it might make some noise at the regional tournament. BelMateo got outstanding pitching from starter Karam Kayali, who was helped out by solid defense and then the BelMateo offense took care of the rest, scoring seven runs on 11 hits.

“Very well played,” Vega said. “Solid defense, timely hitting, great pitching. It’s what we needed to do.”

Kayali dominated Mountain View for the second game in a row. He got the start in a second-round game Sunday, a 4-1 BelMateo win. Kayali went 6 2/3 in that outing, giving up one run on six hits while striking eight.

He was just as good Thursday, working six strong innings, giving up one run on just three hits. Aidan Schaff pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to close out the win.

“[Kayali] dominated throughout the tournament,” Vega said. “Everything was working for him. He was throwing strikes and keeping them off balance.”

BelMateo had already give Kayali a 1-0 lead when he took the mound in the bottom of the first as BelMateo produced a run in the top half of the inning. With one out, Kayali helped his cause by singling to left and then stealing second — it was one of seven stolen bases during the game for BelMateo, with four of those baserunners eventually coming around to score.

Jackson Snodgrass followed with a walk and Yash Vaka added a two-out walk to load the bases. That brought up Matthew McNally, who had already driven in four runs for the tournament. He collected his fifth RBI when he was hit by a pitch to drive in Kayali with the first run of the day.

BelMateo was held scoreless in the second before tacking on two more runs in the third as it put together three hits and took advantage of a Mountain View error. Again, it was Kayali who sparked the rally with a wind-aided infield hit on a towering popup that couldn’t be caught. Snodgrass, who earned tournament MVP honors after going 9 for 11 at the plate, followed with a single before Colin Ganoza reached on a fielder’s choice with everyone safe following an error.

That brought up Yash Vaka with the bases loaded and he produced a sacrifice fly to left to drive in courtesy runner Hagan Chan. McNally then followed with his sixth RBI of the tournament, a single to center to plated Ganoza to put BelMateo up 3-0.

Mountain View finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth, scoring an unearned run against Kayali. Aiden Maylard led off the inning with a single to left and went to second on a groundout. Kayali got a flyout to left for the second out of the inning and looked to be out of trouble when he induced a chopper to third.

the BelMateo third baseman made a nice play to catch the ball on the short hop, but his throw to first sailed high, enabling Maylard to score from second. The batter was thrown out at second to end the inning, but the run counted and Mountain View was down just 3-1.

But BelMateo got the run right back in the top of the fifth. Snodgrass and Ganoza drew back-to-back walks to bring up Vaka, who picked up his second RBI of the day with a single up the middle. In the top of the sixth, BelMateo extended its lead to 5-1. Apollo Lee singled, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Emi Garcia’s groundout. BelMateo rounded out the scoring with two runs in the top of the seventh. Snodgrass led off the inning with the only extra-base hit of the day, drilling a triple to the left-center field gap. He scored on a Ganoza single, who stole second and went to third on a groundout.

McNally then walked and the two baserunners pulled off a delayed double steal, with Ganoza scoring easily from third.

“The offense had been streaky going into [the championship game],” Vega said. “This game, it was consistent.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated to show Aidan Schaff pitched the seventh inning for BelMateo.